The Fight in Your Head
~Ron Melanson~
Building High-Impact Teams | Aspiring TedXer | TIME Magazine Person of year 2006 | Elevating Careers | Amazon Bar Raiser | Podcaster | Storyteller | Mentor | Career Coach | Speaker | Community Volunteer | Opinions=Mine
I've written about this before but it came up, again, in a coaching session I had with a friend. They had recently been downsized and they have started to blame themselves and with the job market being the mess it currently is, they are doubting themselves.
They are letting negative thoughts take charge, doubting their very abilities that got them into a Director role at a large tech company, before the company 'restructured' and left them unemployed.
Note I said Unemployed but NOT Unemployable - but they need to stop listening to the devil on their shoulder - telling them they are not worthy - and allow the angel on their other shoulder to take center stage.
There’s a voice in your head that sounds like you. It knows your insecurities. It remembers your failures. And it’s quick to offer doubt disguised as advice.
“Don’t try that. You’ll fail.” “You’re not ready.” “You’re not that kind of person.”
It poses as rational. Responsible. Cautious. But its job isn’t to help you grow. It’s to keep you small.
Most people don’t recognize this voice for what it is - just one opinion in the boardroom of your brain. Not the truth. Not a prophecy. Just a pattern.
But here’s the part we often forget:
There’s another voice too.
It’s quieter, not because it lacks conviction, but because it hasn’t had as much airtime. This one encourages you. Reminds you of your resilience. Nudges you to try again. To trust yourself.
“You’ve done harder things than this.” “You can learn.” “You’re more capable than you think.”
The problem is, both voices use the same tone. They both sound like you.
So how do you tell them apart?
Look at the outcomes.
One leaves you stuck, replaying worst-case scenarios. The other moves you forward, even when things feel uncertain. One bets on your failure. The other bets on your growth.
You don’t have to wait until the critical voice disappears. You just have to stop letting it drive. Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s deciding that fear doesn’t get the final vote.
We all have a choice. Choose wisely. I'm rooting for you.
#MindsetShift #SelfBelief #InnerCritic #ChooseGrowth
Startup Advisor | Go-to-Market Strategy | Alliance Management | Cloud and GenAI Transformation | Angel Investing | Serial Entrepreneur | IRONMAN Triathlete | ex-AWS, ex-Microsoft | former Top 10 Accounting-Consulting
3wI think this is one of your most important posts ~Ron Melanson~ We all fight the deamons of impostor syndrome in many flavors - thinking we’re not worthy of what we have or not ready for the next step or that it’s our fault if we’re caught up in a larger decision matrix that leaves us in the outside of what we thought was our home and comfort zone. Things happen for a reason. We can pull back from unplanned challenges, or we can lean in and embrace some discomfort, which forces growth. I’ve faced it - nervously - but leaning in, has always yielded the better outcome than holding back.